Former Fremantle and Storyville docs supremo Mandy Chang has joioned the UK’s Documentary Film Council (DFC) as its first-ever CEO.

Chang will lead the DFC at a “critical moment for the industry,” it said, having been in operation now for nearly three years.

Chang is a highly-regarded docs priducer whose credits include Two Strangers: Trying Not to Kill Each Other, It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley and Welcome to Chechnya.

She ran the BBC’s docs strand Storyville before movign to Fremantle in a global documentaries role overseeing the Undeniable label. She left that post 18 months ago and had been working as a freelance exec.

The DFC was founded in 2023 as a member-owned organization representing the interests of the UK doc sector. Chang takes the reins from Steve Presence and Emily Copley, who have served as Joint Acting CEOs since launch.

“We are incredibly proud of the foundation that has been built over the past two years and deeply grateful to the hundreds of filmmakers, organisations and supporters who believed in the need for the DFC and helped bring it into existence,” said Presence and Copley. “With Mandy’s leadership, we are excited to see the organisation move into its next chapter and continue working towards a stronger, more resilient and more unified documentary ecosystem in the UK.”

Chang added: “We need an organisation like the DFC to advocate for our industry, and I’m honoured to be working with the board, our members and sister organisations across the field in this next stage of the DFC’s growth.”

Alongside Chang’s appointment, the DFC has brought on trustees Zara Meerza and Julian Carrington. Meerza is an Emmy Award-winning writer, filmmaker and programmer, while Carrington is Executive Director of the Documentary Organization of Canada.